Endangered Birds Leaving Site Eyed For Garbage Plant

August 1, 1985|By Neil Santaniello, Staff Writer

A population of the endangered Everglade kite found several weeks ago on a wilderness tract slated to become home for a landfill and garbage incinerator has dwindled from 350 to 70, wildlife biologists reported Wednesday.

Four wildlife biologists, who conducted the most recent kite census Monday, noted most of the kites that were roosting and nesting on a wetlands portion of the proposed incinerator site west of Riviera Beach have flown away, possibly back to their natural habitat in the Everglades, state wildlife officials said. Rain in recent weeks has restored wetlands that temporarily were depleted of water by near-drought conditions, which most likely is what prompted the birds to return home, said Jean Takekawa, a wildlife biologist at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Takekawa is collecting data on kites for a study on their habits.

The latest finding bolsters the belief the rare birds moved into the 1,300- acre incinerator site temporarily to forage in a wetland portion for their only food source, the apple snail, she said.

``I think the population has been declining since it started raining,`` she said.

``We`re pretty much seeing what we said would be happening,`` said Tom Keith, environmental administrator for the Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority, which has been eyeing the site for its planned $320-million garbage incinerator. The kite find could mean a setback for the county project.

Biologists have detected only one kite nest on the site and believe the birds were using the area mainly to roost and hunt for the apple snail, a crustacean found in Florida marshes.

Although the remainder of roosting kites might disappear from the incinerator site within the next few weeks if water levels in the Everglades continue to rise, all the birds could return in the advent of another dry spell, biologists said.

``It`s hard to say what will happen,`` said Ellie Van Os, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Said Takekawa: ``It`s very possible the birds will return.``

Initially, discovery of the kites generated fear their roost might be overrun by birdwatchers and other curious folks. The birds are highly sensitive to changes in their environment and are easily disturbed, Van Os said.

But there is no evidence of a migration of people to view the birds concentrated on a 10-acre section of the site, which is private property and closed to the public, Keith said.

A few requests from nature photographers were rejected, he said. A few four- wheel drive vehicles and motorcycles have used the area without permission since the find, and likely entered the site through its only access road off Beeline Highway just west of Florida`s Turnpike after a gate that blocked it was torn down, he said.

But authority officials put up another gate and locked it.

``We`re not letting anybody on the site,`` Keith said.

In a move to allow the kites and incinerator to co-exist, authority officials have agreed to set aside 440 acres as a wildlife preserve to protect the kite and other wading birds found on the site, including the blue heron and ibis.

Droughts disrupt the nesting season of kites, which are more preoccupied in dry weather with foraging for food than building a rookery, said Takekawa, who stumbled upon the incinerator site population while tracking down reported kite sitings in the area.

``It was a rather unusual concentration of birds. It was surprising to me,`` she said.